On June 10, the fire at Pearl Harbor was still not over, but the losses at Pearl Harbor had been counted. The details of the losses at Pearl Harbor were immediately announced by the US government. Two aircraft carriers were sunk in Pearl Harbor, and five battleships were sunk.
Sunk, two battleships seriously damaged, one battleship damaged, one cruiser sunk, seven cruisers sunk, three cruisers seriously damaged, one cruiser damaged, one cruiser seriously damaged, two cruisers damaged, other ships are not counted, more than
Four hundred and twenty fighter planes were destroyed or injured, 3,700 soldiers were killed and 1,300 were injured. More than three million tons of heavy oil were blown up. The fire in the port has not been extinguished to this day, and the warships that can still operate can only hide in
They were hiding from the fire outside the port, and those warships that were so injured that they couldn't move were pulled out if they could. Those that couldn't be saved could only be barbecued in the fire. I don't know what it will look like after the fire is out. 23us.
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The casualties of the Japanese army were also announced by the Japanese government as military exploits. 32 fighter planes were shot down, four mini-submarines were sunk, and less than a hundred people were killed.
Such results once again shocked the world. After Germany's Hitler received such a battle report, he didn't know what to say. Is this because the US military's combat effectiveness is low or the Japanese army's combat effectiveness is too high? But the only thing that made him relaxed
The tone is that it seems that even if the Americans want to intervene in European affairs, it will take a year and a half. According to his plan, a swastika flag should have been planted in Moscow by then.
Stalin in the Soviet Union just wanted to pull out Roosevelt and beat him up. How could you fight this war? I thought my Red Army was doing a good enough job. Your American navy is even better than ours. You can defeat us in one battle.
All Soviet battleships.
In the White House in Washington, Roosevelt held the first high-level meeting of the US military. The war was declared and the words were spoken. However, no one knew how to fight the war.
White House
Roosevelt looked at Leahy and said, General Leahy, you are the person who knows Southeast Asia best, and you are also the Chief of Staff of the Navy. Please tell me about the current situation first.
William Daniel Leahy, the chief of staff of the U.S. Navy at this time, participated in the Spanish-American War and the Suppression of the Philippine Rebellion. He even came to China in 1900 to participate in the Eight-Nation Allied Forces' war of aggression against China, which affected the entire Southeast Asia or the entire Pacific Rim.
very familiar.
Leahy nodded and said, let me talk about our situation first. The fire in our Pearl Harbor has not been extinguished yet, but even if it is extinguished, those warships will not be repairable for a while, because our docks were also burned by the fire.
The only good news is that there are still some oil depots that have not been blown up. The oil is probably more than one million tons. This makes the supplies tight, but it does not mean starting from scratch. It will take at least eight years to completely repair Pearl Harbor.
For more than a month, this also requires the Japanese army to stop attacking...
And our battleships have suffered extremely heavy losses. Now our troops in the Pacific only have one aircraft carrier and one battleship with relatively complete combat capabilities, which are far behind the Japanese army. The troops in the Philippines are still fighting the Japanese army. It is expected that they can last for at most one day.
to two months, and we cannot rescue in time in such a short period of time. In addition, because Germany has declared war on our country, those German submarines in the Atlantic will also pose a threat to our ships. So far, we have not found a way to rescue our country.
A way to effectively detect their Seawolf submarines.
We still have two aircraft carriers in the Home Fleet that can support Pearl Harbor. Since whether to abandon Pearl Harbor still needs to be analyzed after the Pearl Harbor fire is extinguished, whether to dispatch it still needs to be made clear by the President.
Such a disadvantageous situation made everyone feel heavy.
Roosevelt looked at Hull and said, "We have already prepared a large number of ships under construction. How long will it take for these ships to be put into battle?"
Hull replied that we have nearly 150 destroyers and frigates under construction in the dock, but most of these warships were previously promised to the United Kingdom. As for cruisers, we still have 10 Cleveland-class light cruisers under construction, 4
Atlanta-class light cruisers are under construction, of which all Atlanta-class light cruisers will be enlisted within this year. Cleveland-class can only enlist 4 ships this year as planned. The construction of Baltimore-class heavy cruisers has not yet passed review, so there is no construction of it in the shipyard.
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As for the battleships among the capital ships, the North Carolina and Washington are still under construction and are expected to be completed from the end of this year to the beginning of next year. Three of the four South Dakota-class battleships will be delivered to the Navy within two months, and the other one will be delivered to the Navy.
Delivered at the end of the year, but all four ships are in the Atlantic direction.
Among the aircraft carriers, we currently have only five under construction, and they will not be completed until next year at the earliest.
Roosevelt nodded distressedly and said that Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor had dealt a huge blow to our strength. The Atlantic Ocean is not important now. With the British Royal Navy here, the Germans can at most do a big attack. I suggest that there
We only need to keep one aircraft carrier, and move the Wasp to the Pacific area, so that we have four aircraft carriers. The battleships also move the Mississippi and Idaho to the Pacific area. We must first defend
We can no longer let Japanese bombs fall on American soil at our doorstep. What do you think, General Leahy?
Leahy agreed and said that Mr. President's suggestion is very good. The Japanese army is attacking our Wake Island. There are only a thousand defenders on Wake Island. It is difficult to hold on. We must prepare for the worst. My idea is that we must hold on.
Midway Island, Midway Island is the gateway to Pearl Harbor. As long as we hold Midway Island, we can slowly recuperate, but relying on our current strength, this is very difficult.
Roosevelt waved his hand and said that the war is your military's business. I can only give you the greatest support. Now we can only have 10 battleships by the end of this year at the fastest. This is after repairing all four damaged ships in Pearl Harbor.
Under the circumstances, before October, you can only use three ships in the Pacific. You must hold on until October no matter what.
Lexi nodded to express his understanding.
Roosevelt went on to say that the industrial sector must speed up the construction of battleships. The construction of battleships takes too long. We can't wait. Let's build cruisers and aircraft carriers first. I am ready to persuade Congress to continue building 10 Essex-class aircraft carriers this year.
How long does it take for us to build such an aircraft carrier now? I mean the fastest.
The person in charge of the industry nearby replied that it would take 20 months at the earliest from the start of construction to the launch of the water.
Roosevelt looked at Leahy, who shook his head and said that this was too slow. It would take at least two years to achieve combat effectiveness. We must find an aircraft carrier that can be launched into the war within a year.
Marshall next to him said that although I don’t know much about the navy, I think the aircraft carrier is just a water platform for aircraft to fly. Can we build some simpler emergency response first?
Leahy smiled and said, I think it is okay. We have many large merchant ships and oil tankers in the United States. Many of these ships are large ships with tens of thousands of tons. As long as they are modified, they can become aircraft carriers. Although they are smaller, they are still better than nothing.
Next to him, Hull also came up with an idea and said, "In addition, we have a lot of destroyers under construction. Can we also try to transform them?"
One person is short in wisdom, but three people are strong in wisdom. Roosevelt watched everyone come up with their ideas one by one, and suddenly gained confidence. He decided that it would be settled like this. He would first convert ten Cleveland-class light cruisers into aircraft carriers, and then try them separately.
Try converting cargo ships and oil tankers into escort aircraft carriers.
Leahy asked how many of the first batch of these converted carriers there were.
Roosevelt waved his hand and said, the more the merrier, let’s try thirty ships first.
If Hirohito Hideki Tojo and others were sitting in on this meeting at this time, I am afraid they would be so frightened that they would vomit blood. Is there any country in the world that builds ships like this? Dozens of aircraft carriers have made dumplings like this.
Yes.
After the lively shipbuilding discussion was over, we had to face the cruel reality. At this time, the Japanese army had 12 battleships and as many as 13 aircraft carriers. Faced with such combat power, the US military was under too much pressure.
Now the main direction of the Japanese attack is Southeast Asia and the South Pacific. Should we abandon the Philippines? Roosevelt said.
No one is willing to give up the few overseas colonies of the United States, but they also understand that it is too difficult to hold on and there is no way to rescue them.
Marshall said that I think we can give up at critical moments and we should implement the strategy of retreating first and then attacking.
So where should we retreat to? Hull asked.
We can go to Australia, where the British belong, and they will accept us. We can persuade the countries in South America to support us, so that we can assist Australia. Then we will launch a strategic campaign against Japan based on Australia and the United States.
Double attack, Leahy said.
China, we cannot forget China. The Chinese have been fighting Japan for five years. If we count from 1931, it is ten years. They have extremely rich experience in fighting Japan. Roosevelt has not forgotten the chess pieces he laid in China. He said
China's Chongqing government is our reliable friend. Yesterday, Mr. Chiang Kai-shek sent a telegram, hoping that we would send representatives to Chongqing to discuss joint operations with British representatives.
This is an excellent idea, Mr. President, I have to say that if China can contain the main force of the Japanese army, then our pressure will be greatly reduced. Don't forget, our enemy is not only Japan, but also
A stronger Germany. Hull said, Mr. President, we must choose a direction between Europe and Asia and concentrate our main efforts in this direction. Either Germany or Japan should be solved first.
Roosevelt looked at Marshall and Leahy. Leahy said, "I suggest you start with the easy stuff first, then the tough stuff, with Japan first and then Germany. Germany is actually much stronger than Japan, and Germany is restrained by the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom. Unlike Japan, Japan's opponents are
Outside of us, there is only one China. As for the British troops in Southeast Asia, they can only defend and it is difficult to counterattack.
As Chief of Naval Staff, Leahy must speak from the position of the Navy. The Japanese army inflicted heavy losses on the U.S. Navy, and the U.S. Navy must retaliate.
Marshall shook his head and said, I suggest Germany first and then Japan. Japan's real industrial strength is not strong, so it doesn't matter if we let it go for a few more years. But once Germany completely defeats the Soviet Union, it will be difficult for us to contain them.
Roosevelt thought for a while, but it was difficult to make a decision now. Finally, he said that we should wait to discuss this matter later. Let's solve the current Japanese problem first. After all, even if it is a policy of Europe first, Asia first, Japan in Asia cannot threaten it.
to our premise.
At this moment, a knock on the door disturbed everyone who was thinking. Roosevelt looked up and saw a secretary came in with a telegram and handed it to Roosevelt, saying that this was an urgent telegram he had just received.
Roosevelt took it and looked at it. He frowned and sighed. This is extremely unfortunate news. The main force of the British Far East Fleet in Singapore was discovered by the Japanese army. At 6 o'clock in the morning local time today, it was attacked by the Japanese army. The British army was lost.
A battleship and a battlecruiser. We and our friends no longer have a single battleship in Southeast Asia.
Hull narrowed his eyes and said that this is indeed bad news, but such a battle should make the British fully understand the current situation. I believe Churchill will agree to our suggestion and cooperate with the Chinese.
London
Churchill had been standing at the window for a long time. Due to the war between the Soviet Union and Germany, Germany's bombing intensity against Britain was greatly reduced. Churchill looked at the crowds coming and going outside, sighed and said that we will have to face a problem, which is to ask China
People still want to be Japanese. What you can know is that no matter who they are, they will no longer be us British.
The Japanese army's offensive in the next week was almost unstoppable. All parts of Southeast Asia were in panic. Hong Kong held out for three days and then declared its fall. After the Japanese army entered Hong Kong, they couldn't wait to break into the large and small financial institutions of Britain, the United States and other countries in Hong Kong.
, they plundered the precious metals and foreign exchange stored there, and then began to clean up the white people in Hong Kong. Unless they were white people who had joined the Axis powers, they had to pay a ransom of almost their entire wealth before they could come to the concentration camp alive.
, here, they will be sent to mines in various places and engage in manual labor that they have never thought of in their lives.
After the Japanese army captured Thailand, they did not immediately rush into Myanmar non-stop. After all, there were tens of thousands of British troops in Myanmar. Whether it was logistical supplies or personnel, the Japanese army needed some time to move to the Thai border closest to Myanmar.